Cat Herding

Monday, March 2, 2009

Dick's house is catless!

Tonight I transported the last cat out of Dick's house - she (Midget) is scheduled for a spay appointment tomorrow morning at the MASH unit in Apache Junction. I had set three traps in the empty hall bedroom (with no bathroom access or other doors to escape through) after finally closing both Midget and Lil Bit in that bedroom. Midget has been very leery of me over the last few weeks as I crated and trapped cats for transport to my home, and she has avoided each of the traps that I set - one by one, the traps caught the "under the sink" cat, Midget's brother or step-brother, but NOT Midget. I caught the last of the outdoor kittens and got them spayed last week, but NOT Midget. Even tonight, things did not go as hoped -- after I took Lil Bit in his trap out of the house, I hoped that Midget would come out and seek food, walk into one of the two remaining traps and await me when I returned. Instead, she was still curled up in a corner of the closet - I touched her, but she growled and looked frantic, and I was not willing to risk being attacked in fear. I guided her out of the closet and herded her from several hiding places, hoping she would head for one of the traps, but instead she went into a small crate! I would have been overjoyed except for the fear that the vet staff will find it difficult to handle her and get her out of the crate. I placed the crate in the trap door, and she ran into the trap, but ran back into the crate - so I thankfully accepted that she was finally captured and took her home. I hope the vet clinic will be able to handle her and get her spayed tomorrow.

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The Cat Herder

Well, I don't have a horse, but I do live in the west, and I've recently had my share of "herding" about 50 cats. This blog is my way of compiling info and resources that has been helpful to me and hopefully will be to others who live with cats - whether indoor house companions or outdoor/alley/community cats.
I've taken in stray cats all my life -- cats would appear at the door, while out walking the dog, at the front door of the Circle K when I ran over to get something for lunch at work, etc. But when my brother retired from his career in the U. S. Army, he started taking in cats that were often pregnant or already with a litter of kittens. Soon he couldn't afford getting them all spayed/neutered and he ended up with even more -- about 40 inside cats plus 10 outdoor cats that he fed / sheltered from the weather. Then he died - August 2008. All of a sudden, I went from a helper / transporter for him to the caretaker of 50 cats... and I didn't even know all their names...and they weren't all friendly. Then there's my own 5 cats and my dog to consider... So believe me when I say while I'm walking down the hallway of my brother's home, I'm herding cats.